The present invention relates to a press and, more particularly, to a press for pressing blanks of laminated sheets which are subsequently cut into shapes for making picker sticks for use on looms.
Heretofore, presses have been utilized for pressing substantially square shaped wooden blanks consisting of a plurality of sheets of wood with glue interposed therebetween. These blanks are compressed into a densified square blank which is subsequently sawed into picker sticks. These blanks are often warped making them very difficult to be inserted into slots provided between platens of the press. Heretofore, in order to insert the wooden blanks into the openings provided between the platens of the press, an operator normally inserted a corner thereof into the opening. He then used a board to drive the blanks into the opening. As a result, normally two operators were required to load the press and it consumed from fifteen to thirty minutes loading time.
Furthermore, the wooden blanks were often warped to such an extent that they could not be placed into the openings. These presses heretofore utilized had abutments provided therein which, when the press was opened, limited the openings between the particular platens to approximately 2 inches.